Taijuan Walker (4-3, 3.46) shut out the Padres over six innings on two hits and three walks while striking out three. Allen Cordoba scored the Padres lone run in the ninth inning on Ryan Schimpf‘s single.

This is where we gather from time to time to talk about something big in the Padres world or just the Padres or just baseball. It’s a roundtable discussion. Except, you know, no round tables. This is a Public House . . . so we’re at the bar.

Hey there. Long time no drink. I, for one, missed when we all get together to do this.

So…

It’s been an extraordinary offseason for the Padres. Thanks to “Rockstar GM” A.J. Preller’s trades and free agent signings, the Padres roster has been revamped. Their latest — some would say biggest — acquisition, starting pitcher James Shields, adds a — *COUGH* — final piece to their already impressive rotation.

What do you think of the Shields signing?

We all know the ‘WIN’ is an archaic stat. It is a remainder of a by-gone time, when pitchers finished what they started, and bullpens consisted of 4 guys plus whoever wasn’t starting that day. In the era of LOOGYs, long men, short men, set-up men, and closers, lots and lots of starters make it through only five or maybe six innings. The WIN is more of a team effort, not so much the measure of how one man’s prowess created the result.

Still, some wins are more deserving than others. To prove that point, let’s take a look at Padres starting pitcher victories in 2013, using Bill James’ Game Score.

When the Padres traded Mat Latos I felt very disappointed. Actually I was pissed. I remember playing FIFA when I received the ESPN text alert that he’d been traded to Cincinnati. I was up 2-1 late against Manchester City, a perennial powerhouse, playing with poor little underdog Stoke City. Do you have any idea how hard it is to beat a 5 star team with 2 star team? DO YOU?! Well, distracted by the news, I forgot to pause the game, and of course City equalized late. I eventually lost the game in penalties. Fucking Byrnes.

Next up we have the Eckstein-Owens Memorial True Grit Award for the grittiest gritty player who shows gritty grit on the gritty Padres. Named in honor of the two of the grittiest players who ever dirtied up a Padres uniform, David Eckstein and Eric Owens, the True Grit Award is bestowed upon the player who best exemplified gritty play during the season.

What constitutes gritty play? Clutch defensive plays. Take no prisoners baserunning. Outstanding on-field awareness. These are all key. And if a player demonstrates all of these at the same time, that’s a lot of grit.

We used to call these types of players “scrappy.” Not quite sure when it was changed to gritty. Who really cares? It’s basically the same thing.

Some of you may be wondering, “The Padres’ season is over. What the Hell are you going to do now, Ghost? In-depth analysis of Mighty Wings sales? The history of the McNugget?”

To be honest, I wondered the same thing. Quite frankly, I’d love to take a break. But for some reason you people keep coming back. And I don’t want to disappoint any more than I already have.

We have some interesting ideas for the offseason that Padres Public will be rolling out over the course of the next month or so, but I figured I’d start with one of mine right away.

Say hello to the first of many polls to choose the first ever McRib Awards.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll be leaving it up to you, my loyal readers, to select the winners in each category. Then I’ll have one post to announce them all at once. Just like the Academy Awards, but completely different, because the winners get nothing. Nothing at all. Unless you count bragging rights. And who would really brag about this?

Instead of categories like “Best Starter” or “Team MVP,” which every blog, sports website, network, guy/gal on the street, and family pet out there already does, I’m going to throw out some unusual categories. This first one definitely qualifies:

“Dana, I’m what the world considers to be a phenomenally successful man, and I’ve failed much more than I’ve succeeded. And each time I fail, I get my people together, and I say, “Where are we going?” And it starts to get better.” – Calvin Traeger, Sports Night

Towards the end of the second and last season of the great, short-lived Aaron Sorkin dramedy Sports Night, fictional sports network CSC is bought out by a holding company named Quo Vadimus, owned by the character quoted above. Quo Vadimus is Latin for “where are we going?”, a question Padres fans should be starting to ask themselves as we wind down the 2013 season and start looking ahead. In a series of posts, I will ask that question and hope to provide some answers. I’ve already discussed the outfield and infield. This installment will focus on who should stay, go, and be added to the Padres starting rotation.

The Current State Of The Padres Rotation

You can’t really talk about the current state of the rotation without first discussing where it was to start the season. Three of the five members of the opening day rotation are gone; Clayton Richard and Jason Marquis to injury and Edinson Volquez to the Dodgers after the Padres designated him for assignment. Only one member of the rotation has stayed in it from beginning to end: the team’s most reliable starter, and at times its stopper, Eric Stults. Read More…

This is not going to be anything close to well thought out. As far as informative, that is a matter of opinion.

Say hello to my stream of consciousness.

As the season winds down, and the Padres fight to stay out of last place in the NL West, I find myself paying less attention to Padres games. I sit down to watch them, even closing the laptop and putting the phone across the room like AJM wrote about, but I have a hard time remembering things like how runs scored or when pitching changes occurred.

Now, these are either early signs of Alzheimer’s, of my short-term memory being reduced to that of a goldfish, or the Padres have started to lose my attention to the pickup soccer games going on in the park behind my house.

Quite frankly, I’m hoping it’s one of the first two. Because I hate soccer.